“Credit history or credit report is, in many countries, a negative record of an individual’s or company’s past borrowing and repaying, including information about late payments and bankruptcy. The term “credit reputation” can either be used synonymous to credit history or to credit score.
In many countries, when a customer fills out an application for credit from a bank, store or credit card company, their information is forwarded to a credit bureau. The credit bureau matches the name, address and other identifying information on the credit applicant with information retained by the bureau in its files. That is why it is very important for creditors, lenders and others to provide accurate data to credit bureaus.[1]
This information is used by lenders such as credit card companies to determine an individual’s credit worthiness; that is, determining an individual’s ability and track record of repaying a debt. The willingness to repay a debt is indicated by how timely past payments have been made to other lenders. Lenders like to see consumer debt obligations paid regularly and on time, and therefore focus particularly on missed payments and may not, for example, consider an overpayment as an offset for a missed payment.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_history